THE SECRET OF LIFE

"We have found the secret of life!" These words were spoken by Francis Crick in a Cambridge pub in february, 1953. And in many ways it was true. Crick and his partner, James Watson, told their scientific colleagues about their discovery. It was the double-helix structure of DNA.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) contains the recipe for life. DNA is what makes a dog a dog, and a tree a tree. It is what makes every human being different from every other. Crick and Watson's discovery opened a wonderful new field of scientific exploration.

It has revolutionized agriculture. Genetically modified (GM) crops are used throughout the world. Many people believe GM technology will bring an end to world hunger. It will be possible, for example, to produce crops which can grow in the desert. But others are worried that DNA fron GM crops might mix with natural species and produce "Frankenstein" plants which cannot be controlled.

Animals, too, are part of the DNA revolution. In 1997, scientists used a technique called "cloning" to create Dolly, a sheep which was an exact copy of its mother!. We can now clone an infinite number of the very best farm animals. There are even companies which, for a fee, will clone your beloved pet for you!

But is cloning right? Or are scientists "playing God"? Crick and Watson's gift to humanity was incredibly valuable, but it has raised some serious ethical questions.

MARTIN LUTHER KING an American hero

Martin Luther King Junior was born on 15 January, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was a church minister, and his mother was a teacher. At school he was a very clever student, and he went to university in 1944, when he was only fifteen. He became a Doctor of Philosophy in 1955, and accepted a job as a minister of an Alabama church.

Like all black people in the southern states, Dr. King grew up in a world of discrimination, segregation, and injustice. In the 1950s, many schools were for white children only. They did not admit black children. Black people could not eat in the same restaurants, drink at the same water fountains, or sit on the same bus seats as white people.

All that began to change in 1956, when Dr. King led the civil rights movement in a peaceful boycott of the buses in Montgomery, Alabama. Non-violent protest against racial discrimination spread all over the USA. There was a lot of resistance from the authorities. The police arrested Dr. King more than thirty times during the 1950s!

In 1964, aged thirty-five, Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize. In the same year, President Lyndon Johnson signed the civil Rights Act, which declared racial discrimination to be illegal. Then four years later, while he was visiting Memphis, Tennessee, a gunman shot Dr. King throught the head. The nation mourned.

he was only thirty-nine when he died, but his achievements were considerable. In 1986 the goverment declared a national holiday in his honour. Now, on the third Monday of every January, the people of the United States officially commemorate the life and work of this American hero.

SPACEARC: A time Capsule for the future

British teenagers are amongst thousands of young pepople who have responded to an unusual request from scientists. They were asked to "send a message to the future". The messages, which will include letters, picures and music, will be placed in a time capsule called SpaceArc. The four kilogram capsule will be on a satellite which is being launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The response to the scientists request has been incredible. "We've had thousands of letters from all over the world", said one of the organizers. "We've selected some of messages alredy and we're going to choose the rest next month".

SpaceArc will contain all sorts of information about life on Earth today. Messages are going to include information about school, family life and religion as well as grigs and crime. Peter Fox, one of the organizers, said "It's important that the messages reflect the twentieht century accurately. We don't want people of the future to misunderstand what life was like this century".

The satellite will circle the earth for twelve years. After that time, SapceArc, which was paid for by an American museum, will separate from the main satellite and be sent into orbit a few hundred miles above the Earth. it will remain in orbit for millions of years.

One of the organizers explained more about the project. "We created SpaceArc in order to communicate with the people of the future. It is impossible to predict exactly what will happen to it. The human race may have disappeared by the time SpaceArc is opened again."

The Wild West!

THE MYTH

You`ve all seen films like Young Gungs and A Fistful of Dollars. In these 'Westerns' the American West is portrayed as a rough but exciting place to live.

The 'good guys' are portrayed as honest, hard-working cowboys who live alone in the wild. The are handsome and strong, skilled horseman and hard drinkers. By the end of the film yhe 'bad guy' has always been defeated. He is either arrested or killed. The town has been saved and the good cowboy rides off into the sunset.

But the American West wasn't really like this. Over the years a myth has been created by writers and movie directors, a myth that they want us believe in. New films like this are still being made about the romantic 'Wild West'. Byt what was it realliy like?

THE REALITY

In reality, the American West was a vering boring place. The majority of people were farmers. Their farms were isolated and neighbours didn't see one another for weeks at a time. As the land was cultivated and homes were built, more people moved in to the area. As in all towns, ther were criminals but the majority of people were honest and hard.working.

When golg was discovered in California in 1848, thousands of men went there to get rich. Many men found a little gold and then spent all their money in the many bars that had been opened. There were gunfights and men were killed. However, this type of life was not typical.

In fact the cowboy, who plays such an important role in all 'westerns', was only in the American mid.west for about 20 years, from 1870 to 1890. And even during this period, yhe life of a cowboy was very dull. Most cowboy's days were spent in the saddle, rounding up cattle and struggling against the dangers of heat, cold, stampedes and hostile Native Americans.

It was all very differet from the Hollywodd version.